Child Marriage Advertise Aisyah Weddings: Heresy Is Also A Reminder

Aisha Weddings ad in a corner in Kendari City (Source: Special)

JAKARTA - Aisha Weddings is a mass conversation on Twitter. The wedding organizer (WO) was criticized for offering child marriage packages. Aisha Weddings is clearly in awe. But this misleading advertisement is actually a reminder of the problem of early marriage, including children, which after we opened the data today, to be honest, is very worrying.

In an advertisement on the official website, Aisha Weddings offers wedding packages for brides in the age range 12-21 years. "All Muslim women want to be devout and obedient to Allah SWT and her husband. To be pleasing to Allah and your husband, you must be married at the age of 12-21 years and not more," reads the Aisha Weddings ad.

Aisha Weddings advertising banner (Source: Special)

The public is angry. This advertisement is considered a violation of Law Number 16 of 2019 concerning Amendments to Law 1/1974 concerning Marriage, which regulates the minimum age for marriage to be 19 years, applicable to both men and women.

In the latest post, quoted Wednesday afternoon, February 10, Aisha Weddings' Facebook account responded to the public's outrage by writing: Don't judge. If parents want to and KUA issue a marriage dispensation for their children, why are you angry? "

By late afternoon, Aisha Weddings' website and social media pages were no longer accessible. Even so, VOI had time to collect a number of reference information for this wedding organizer. Aisha Weddings is based in Kendari, Central Sulawesi. This can be seen from a photo circulating showing the Aisha Weddings banner that was placed under the banner of the Kendari City COVID-19 Task Force.

In line with public protests, General Chair of the Indonesian Child Protection Agency (LPAI) Seto Mulyadi highlighted this advertisement as a violation of laws, including Law Number 35 of 2014 concerning Child Protection. Seto encourages law enforcement to process this advertising crime.

"Frankly, it contradicts the Child Protection Law and various campaigns carried out by the government. We hope that the authorities can immediately take action because it is prone to violations of children's rights," said Seto, contacted by VOI, Wednesday, February 10.

Chairman of LPAI Seto Mulyadi (Rizky Adytia Pramana / VOI)

The child rights in question, said Seto, are what is stipulated in Law 35/2014, that "... there is one article, whoever has sexual relations with a child, it is a crime."

Law 35/2014 is an important stepping stone. Even the amendments to the Marriage Law are also in harmony with the Act. "So that's why the age of various laws concerning (child) marriage is raised. So at least not at the age of the child."

The crunch of early marriage

This Aisha Weddings ad is truly a reminder that we are one of the countries that fail to protect children from early marriage. In fact, in 2018 Indonesia was ranked second with the highest rate of child marriage in ASEAN.

Child marriage is still the most massive violation of children's rights. In that year data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) showed that marriage for women aged less than 17 years reached a percentage of 4.8 percent.

Then, the number of child marriages under the age of 16 was recorded at 0.6 percent. And that is the number when the minimum age for married children has not been changed to 19 years.

If you refer to the most recent data, Indonesian child marriage is increasingly worrying. Quoting the BBC, in 2020 the number of child marriages will increase dramatically.

Data from January to June 2020 shows 34,000 applications for early marriage dispensation - under the age of 19, with 97 percent of them being granted. This is a serious jump, considering that in 2019, applications for dispensation of early marriage were recorded at 23,700.

Various factors behind early marriage. Among these are many people who see marriage as a solution to family economic problems. In addition, there are also the influence of religious and cultural norms. And what is no less complicated is the lack of education regarding the impact of early marriage.

One of Aisha Weddings' flyer advertisements (Source: Special)

Seto Mulyadi explained the negative impact of early marriage, especially for children. According to him, this negative impact affects at least two aspects: physical and psychological. Physically, children at an early age certainly do not have the maturity to engage in sexual activities, especially if they must conceive and reproduce.

Psychologically, children who enter married life are very vulnerable to various problems. Children, with immature egos are often caught in situations that force them to take the option of divorce. This case has implications for other problems, such as child neglect to violence.

"It means that medically it is not ready yet. Psychologically it is not yet, so that many lead to divorce. This (psychologically) is not only about how to live a family life but also an element of responsibility, how to raise their children," said Seto.

"And what is clear is that he is prone to neglect and violence ... The main thing is that. As long as he is a child, he is not psychologically ready mentally, he is not able to share, cooperate, share with each other. His ego is still too strong," added Seto.

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